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11  B  P  O  R  T 


FA  LIT  I  VE  CO 


HONORARY  COUNCIL  j 

OT  JMM  t 

m 

CITIZENS'  ASSOCIATION 


NEW-YORK. 


NO V BRIBER  XTth,  lSCiS. 


NEW-YORK  : 
GEORGE  P.  NESBITT  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
Corner  of  Pine  and  Pearl  Streets. 


186S. 


lEx  ICtbrtB 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book.'' 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library- 
Gift  of  Sfymour  B.  Di  rsi  Old  York  Lihr  \m 


EEPOET 


OF  THE 

EXECUTIVE  COUNCIL 


TO  THE 


HONORARY  COUNCIL 


OF  THE 


CITIZENS'  ASSOCIATION 

OF 

NEW-YORK. 


NOVEMBER  17th,  1866. 


NEW-YORK : 
^Published  t>y  the   Citizens'  Association, 
NO.  813  BROADWAY. 

1866. 


Citizens'  Association  of  IN  ew- York, 

813  Broadway. 

At  a  Meeting  of  the  Honorary  Council  of  the  Citizens' 
Association,  held  at  the  Rooms  of  the  Association,  No.  813 
Broadway,  November  19,  1866,  A.  R  Wetmore,  Esq.,  in  the 
Chair : 

After  the  transaction  of  the  usual  routine  business,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Council  presented  and  read  the  following 
report  from  the  Executive  Council : 


AA 


REPORT. 


The  Executive  Council  of  the  Citizens'  Association  respectfully 
presents  to  the  Honorary  Council  the  following  Report  of 
the  work  of  the  Association  : 

Before  proceeding  to  the  items  of  this  work  the  Execu- 
tive Council  congratulates  the  Honorary  upon  the  many 
and  multiplying  evidences  which  the  Association  is  daily 
receiving  of  the  esteem  in  which  it  is  held  by  this  com- 
munity, by  the  State  at  large,  and  by  the  friends  of  honest 
and  good  government  in  every  portion  of  the  Union.  Hardly 
a  day  passes  without  many  personal  applications  for  the 
reports  and  documents  of  the  Association  from  our  principal 
citizens.  The  Association  is  constantly  in  receipt  of  com- 
munications from  prominent  men  in  various  parts  of  our 
State  and  country,  and  from  the  Mayors  or  other  authori- 
ties of  oar  principal  cities,  seeking  information  as  to  its  or- 
ganization and  plans,  and  requesting  a  set  of  its  reports  and 
publications.  The  Executive  Council  is  happy  to  be  able 
to  state  that  the  next  Legislature  promises  to  make  a  better 
record  than  that  of  the  last  Legislature.  Those  members 
who  made  themselves  conspicuous  last  winter  in  the  support 
of  the  reform  measures  of  the  Association,  and  who  were 
honest  and  consistent  in  the  advocacy  of  good  government 
in  this  city,  have  nearly  all  been  returned  to  the  Legislature 
by  their  constituents ;  and  the  Executive  Council  is  happy  to 
state  that  those  members  who  were  the  open  opponents  of 
the  Association,  or  who  pretended  to  be  its  friends,  but 
were,  in  fact,  its  most  dangerous  enemies  in  disguise,  have 


0 


nearly  all  failed  to  be  returned  to  the  Legislature.  It  is  to 
be  expected  as  well  as  hoped  that  next  winter  the  Associa- 
tion will  have  but  little  difficulty  in  maintaining  the  ground 
it  has  already  gained,  and  in  taking  those  steps  in  advance 
which  may  be  considered  advisable  for  the  protection  and 
encouragement  of  the  great  moral,  social  and  commercial 
interests  of  this  city.  The  position  of  the  Association  in 
this  community  is  now  assured;  its  influence  is  fully 
acknowledged  by  all.  It  is  courted  by  those  who  wish  its 
favor,  and  by  those  who  fear  its  power,  and  it  has  become 
such  a  living  force  that  there  is  now  not  a  department  of  our 
local  government  that  is  not  anxious  to  merit  its  approba- 
tion and  to  escape  its  censure. 

The  details  of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  Association 
since  the  last  meeting  of  the  Honorary  Council  are,  first,  the 
part  taken  by  it  in  the  matter  of  inaugurating  a  system  of 
wharves  and  piers  worthy  of  the  wealth  and  commercial  im- 
portance of  this  city.  It  is  needless  to  endeavor  to  impress 
upon  a  Council,  so  largely  composed  of  merchants,  the  im- 
portance and  necessity  of  good,  ample  and  secure  wharf  ac- 
commodations for  the  thousands  of  vessels  that,  year  by  year, 
visit  this  port.  It  is  a  fundamental  truth,  a  mercantile  axiom 
underlying  the  very  foundations  of  commerce,  that  for  a 
city  to  attain  or  retain  a  commercial  supremacy  it  must 
have  wharf  accommodations  suitable  and  ample  for  its  com- 
merce; and  unless  these  accommodations  are  improved, 
unless  they  keep  pace  with  the  natural  tendency  of  com- 
merce to  increase  at  a  port  favorably  situated  for  its  pur- 
poses, then  a  large  portion  of  the  shipping  is  driven  off  to 
build  up  ports  less  favorably  situated  but  affording  in  their 
wharves  better  commercial  facilities  ;  and  not  only  is  there 
a  great  amount  of  loss  in  the  present,  but  the  city  that  does 
not  meet  the  wants  of  commerce  loses  throughout  the 
whole  of  its  future  the  benefit  of  that  geometrical  ratio 


t 


7 


with  which  commerce  adds  to  the  weahh  of  a  city  that 
administers  to  its  necessities  and  answers  to  its  calls. 
When  we  look  at  the  City  of  New-York  lying  almost 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  but  sheltered  and  protected 
from  the  fury  of  its  slorms,  a  whole  country  tributary 
to  its  power,  a  whole  nation  concerned  in  its  welfare,  the 
centre  of  science,  art  and  wealth — a  city  whose  morality, 
religion  and  commercial  prosperity  as  they  rise  or  fall  affect 
millions  of  humanity — when  we  observe  what  nature  has 
done  for  our  city,  and  see  how  its  well  established  laws 
have  raised  it  to  its  present  position,  and  are  now  striving 
to  raise  it  higher  and  higher  to  a  pinnacle  of  commercial 
imperium  grandeur  and  glory,  and  when  we  then  turn  and 
contemplate  what  little  has  been  done  by  art  in  the  matter 
of  the  wharves  and  piers  of  our  city  to  improve  the  com- 
mercial advantages  which  nature  affords,  we  cannot  but 
stand  amazed  at  the  apathy  that  tolerates  such  a  condi- 
tion of  things.  Feeling 'the  importance  of  the  subject,  the 
necessity  for  immediate  action  in  the  premises,  and  that  if 
it  should  succeed  in  inaugurating  some  comprehensive  plan 
for  the  construction  of  our  wharves  and  piers,  it  would  be 
doing  a  great  good,  the  Association  engaged  in  pre- 
parations to  appear  before  the  Senate  Committee  appoint- 
ed to  investigate  the  matter  of  the  wharves,  piers  and 
slips  of  this  city.  The  Committee  met,  for  the  first  time,  on 
Tuesday,  the  13th  inst,  at  the  City  Hall.  A  large  delega- 
tion was  present  from  this  Association.  The  meeting  was 
well  attended  by  our  bankers,  merchants  and  prominent 
capitalists  and  citizens,  who  all  manifested,  by  their  pre- 
sence and  interest  taken  in  the  proceedings,  their  opinion 
of  the  importance  of  the  subject  under  deliberation.  The 
Association,  to  assist  the  Committee  in  its  labors,  pre- 
pared for  its  use,  and  presented  to  it  three  volumes j 
in  manuscript.     Volume  one,   containing  the  various 


3 


grants  and  laws  under  which  the  city  or  third  parties 
have  acquired  title  to  the  land  beyond  original  high- 
water  mark  on  the  island  of  New- York,  and  all  laws  in 
relation  to  the  building  of  our  wharves  and  piers;  and 
volumes  two  and  three,  containing  a  survey,  by  its  Corps 
of  Engineers,  of  all  the  piers  and  bulkheads  around 
the  city,  and  drawings  showing  their  actual  condition. 
The  views  of  the  Association  were  presented  to  the 
Committee,  by  George  F.  Noyes,  Esq.,  of  the  Executive 
Council.  The  Association  offered  to  the  Committee  the 
use  of  a  tug-boat  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  personal 
inspection  of  the  condition  of  our  wharves  and  piers ;  but 
the  Committee  had  already  accepted  the  offer  of  a  like  cour- 
tesy from  other  parties.  The  Committee  made  a  personal 
inspection  of  the  whole  river  front  of  the  city  and  of  the 
wharves  and  piers  in  Brooklyn,  and  the  result  confirmed 
the  remark  of  Mr.  Noyes  that  such  inspection  "  would  be  a 
melancholy  voyage  among  ruins." 

The  Executive  Council  congratulates  the  Honorary  Coun- 
cil upon  the  successful  termination  of  the  suit  brought  by 
the  Association  to  restrain  the  Common  Council  and  the 
Street  Commissioner  from  consummating  the  notorious 
twenty  years'  gas  contract.  It  will  be  remembered  that  a 
resolution  was  introduced  into  the  Common  Council  and 
passed,  authorizing  and  directing  the  Street  Commissioner 
to  advertise  for  proposals,  and  to  make  a  contract  for 
lighting  the  streets  of  the  city  with  coal  gas  for  the  long 
term  of  twenty  years.  It  was  represented  by  the  Associa- 
tion that,  during  these  times,  while  all  materials  are  so  high, 
it  would  be  extremely  unwise  to  make  a  contract  for  so  long 
a  period  as  twenty  years,  and  that  it  would  be  better  for  the 
city  to  pay  the  present  high  rates  for  a  year  or  two  longer, 
than  to  make  such  contract  Moreover,  the  Association 
assumed  the  position,  that  sections  nine  and  ten  of  the  Tax 


9 


Levy,  limiting  the  Common  Council  to  certain  specific 
amounts  of  money  for  certain  specific  objects,  and  prohibit- 
ing it  from  incurring  obligations  in  excess  thereof,  or  for 
any  purpose  or  object  not  therein  specified,  not  only  pre- 
vented the  Common  Council  from  spending  more  for  gas  in 
1866  than  the  sum  allowed  for  that  purpose,  but  prevented 
them  from  making  a  contract  for  more  than  one  year. 
Mayor  Hoffman  returned  the  resolution  to  the  Common 
Council  without  his  signature,  but  stated  in  his  veto  that, 
"the  right  of  the  Corporation  to  direct  the  Street  Commis- 
sioner to  make  the  contract  cannot  be  denied.  *  *  *  On 
this  point  I  have  the  concurrent  opinion  of  most  able  coun- 
sel." A3  is  stated  above,  the  Association  held  the  contrary 
opinion.  The  resolution  was  passed  by  the  Common 
Council  notwithstanding  the  veto.  The  Association  then 
appealed  to  the  Courts,  and,  in  the  name  of  Councilman 
Pullman,  obtained  from  Judge  Barnard  a  temporary  injunc- 
tion, which,  upon  argument,  was  made  perpetual,  forever 
restraining  the  Ma}ror,  Aldermen,  &c,  the  Common  Council 
and  the  Street  Commissioner,  from  taking  any  further  steps 
to  consummate  the  proposed  contract.  The  important 
opinion  of  Judge  Barnard  settles,  1st,  The  right  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Common  Council,  as  a  trustee,  to  bring  an  action 
against  the  other  members  of  the  Common  Council  to 
restrain  them  as  co-trustees  of  the  city  property  and 
revenues  from  the  commission  of  any  act  which  will  tend 
to  endanger  the  trust  property  or  dissipate  the  trust  funds, 
and  from  any  act  which  is  beyond  or  against  the  powers  of 
the  trust.  It  settles,  2d,  That  under  sections  nine  and  ten 
of  the  City  Tax  Levy,  the  Corporation  has  no  power  or 
authority  to  make  a  contract  for  more  than  one  year,  or  for 
any  purpose  not  expressly  authorized  by  the  other  sections 
of  the  Tax  Levy.  It  settles,  3d,  That  the  only  remedy  against 
a  proposed  illegal  contract  of  the  Common  Council  is  not  to 
2 


10 


.  wait  until  the  contract  is  made  and  suit  brought  upon  it, 
and  then  to  interpose  the  defence  of  its  illegality,  but  that 
the  suit  may  be  brought  by  a  member  of  the  Common 
Council  to  prevent  the  consummation  of  the  contract. 

The  result  in  this  suit  affords  the  Association  great 
pleasure,  and  gives  promise  of  its  increasing  power.  It  is 
the  entering  wedge  by  which  a  great  portion  of  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  city  can  be  broken  to  pieces.  For,  as  long  as 
these  laws  remain  on  the  statute  books,  every  illegal  scheme 
of  the  Common  Council,  if  not  consummated,  can  be  stopped 
by  injunction,  or,  if  consummated,  can  be  vacated  or  de- 
clared null  and  void.  The  result  of  this  suit  marks  an 
important  era  in  the  cause  of  reform. 

The  Executive  Council  congratulates  the  Honorary  Coun- 
cil upon  the  successful  termination  of  the  proceedings  un- 
dertaken by  it  to  obtain  an  inspection  and  copy  of  the  books 
and  documents  of  the  Street  Department  of  this  city.  Upon 
the  return  of  the  alternative  mandamus,  ordering  Street  Com- 
missioner Cornell  to  permit  the  Attorney  of  this  Association 
to  inspect  his  books  and  papers,  or  show  cause  to  the  contrary, 
the  matter  was  fully  argued.  Judge  Barnard,  in  this  case  also, 
decided  in  the  favor  of  the  Association,  and  ordered  that  a 
peremptory  mandamus  should  issue,  compelling  the  Street 
Commissioner  to  allow  the  Attorney  of  the  Association  full 
and  free  right  to  examine  and  tike  copies  of  the  books, 
papers  nnd  documents  on  file  in  his  office.  This  decision 
was  most  timely,  and  will  form  an  important  and  useful 
precedent  in  our  future  efforts.  It  opens  the  door  of  all  the 
departments  of  the  city  government,  and  gives  every  citizen, 
as  a  matter  of  right,  what  the  departments  have  hitherto  in- 
sisted was  merely  a  matter  of  favor,  of  courtesy.  Now,  that 
it  has  been  established  that  the  Association  has  the  right  to 
examine  all  the  books,  papers  and  documents  of  the  various 
departments  of  the  city  government,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 


11 


the  heads  of  these  departments  will,  on  that  account  alone, 
hesitate  as  to  their  acts. 

The  Association  has  been  busily  engaged,  through  its 
Bureau  of  Engineers,  in  investigating  the  amount  of  brick? 
marble  and  iron  used  in  the  erection  of  the  New  County 
Court  House.  Accurate  measurements  have  been  made  of 
all  the  details  of  the  work  from  the  foundation  to  the  roof, 
and  exact  calculations  made  of  the  amount  of  the  various 
kinds  of  materials  used.  These  results,  wrought  out  upon 
the  severest  mathematical  basis,  are  to  be  compared  with  the 
amounts  of  the  different  materials  charged  to  the  county 
and  paid,  and  the  Association  hopes  thus  to  be  able  to 
detect  whatever  fraud  arises  from  the  alleged  furnishing  of 
the  vast  amounts  of  the  various  materials  that  have  apparently 
disappeared  in  the  County  Court  House  job.  The  Association 
has  also  been  engaged  in  investigating  the  matter  of  the 
giving  out  of  the  iron,  marble  and  other  contracts  in  rela- 
tion to  the  erection  of  the  building  at  the  exorbitant  rates 
at  which  the  county  is  now  paying  for  the  materials  used. 

The  Association^has  also  been  engaged  in  investigating  the 
overcharges  of  the  special  Committee  appointed  by  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  to  investigate  the  accusations  of  fraud  or 
gross  negligence  made  by  Supervisor  Smith  Ely,  Jr.,  against 
the  Court  House  Committee.  It  can  scarcely  be  credited, 
but,  startling  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  special 
committee  appointed  to  investigate  those  charges  obtained 
from  the  County  Treasury  for  their  expenses  in  the  inves- 
tigation, lasting  but  for  parts  of  12  days,  the  enormous 
sum  of  $12,062.25.  The  Association,  startled  at  the  gross 
enormity  and  fraud  of  this  bill,  sent  a  communication  to  the 
Comptroller  asking  for  the  details  of  the  above  amount,  to 
which  communication  the  following  reply  was  received : 


12 


City  of  New-York,  ) 
Dep't  or  Finance,  Comptroller's  Office,  v 
Novcmbcr  13,  1866.  \ 

Joseph  F.  Daly,  Esq.,  AiVy  Citizens'  Association  of  N.  Y. : 

Dear  Sir, — In  answer  to  your  letter  of  the  12th  inst.,  asking  me  to 
furnish  the  Citizens'  Association  with  "  the  items  of  expenditure  by  the 
Supervisors'  Committee  on  the  New  County  Court  House  investigation,'' 
I  submit  the  following  statement  of  such  expenditure,  viz.  : 


Voucher  45. 

Clerk  Hire,  (the  Com'tr  gives  names  of  4  clerks)  $1  250  00 

Eugene  Durnan,  Sergeant-at-Arms   300  00 

C.  E.  Wilbour,  Stenographer   1,G88  50 

Geo.  W.  Roome,  meals  furnished   205  00 

Voucher  46. 

New- York  Printing  Co.,  printing  5,000  Reports  of 

Committee  on  Investigation   7,718  75 

Cram  &  Robinson,  professional  services   900  00 


312,062  25 

Respectfully,  yours, 

MATTHEW  T.  BRENNAN,  Comptroller. 

Mr.  Smith  Ely,  Jr.,  appeared  as  prosecutor  of  the  case  him- 
self, paid  the  expenses  of  the  prosecution,  which  amounted 
to  about  $900,  including  a  stenographer,  and  it  was  not 
to  be  expected  that,  at  the  most,  the  expenses  of  the  de- 
fence would  go  beyond  that  sum.  Yet  we  find  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  to  investigate  fraud,  itself  making  the 
claim  and  pretence  that  $1,250  was  honestly  incurred 
for  clerk  hire,  $1,688  for  a  stenographer,  and  $7,718.75 
for  printing  5,000  copies  of  their  report,  and  $ 900  for 
counsel  fee.  It  cannot  be  true  that  5,000  copies  of  such 
report  were  printed,  for  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Mr. 
Ely  himself  was  able  to  procure  a  couple  of  copies,  and 
then  only  as  a  favor.  If  5,000  copies  were  printed,  where 
are  they — whither  have  they  flown  ?    It  is  a  serious  question 


13 


whether  more  than  250  copies  were  printed ;  if  5:000  copies 
were  printed  they  must  have  been  immediately  disposed  of 
to  dealers  in  old  paper.  But  can  there  be  any  stronger 
evidence  of  fraud  on  the  part  ol  the  Board  of  Supervisors, 
than  that  after  attempting,  by  every  means  in  its  power  to 
prevent  the  inquiry  into  the  fraud  charged  by  one  of  its  own 
members,  and  after  preventing  the  examination  from  taking 
its  full  scope,  it  should  be  so  grossly  lavish  of  the  funds 
entrusted  to  it,  and  so  bold  in  its  measures  as  to  have  5,000 
copies  of  its  white-washing  report  charged  against  the 
country.  The  5,000  copies  were  never  printed,  and  if  they 
had  been,  this  fact  of  itself  would  be  a  sufficient  argument 
for  the  abolition  of  a  Board  so  recklessly  lavish  of  the 
public  money. 

In  addition  to  the  $7,718.75  above  mentioned,  some 
$6,398.10  have  been  paid  to  the  Transcript  Association  for 
the  alleged  publishing  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  In- 
vestigation— thus  making  the  whole  expense  of  this  noto- 
rious Investigating  Committee,  $18,460.35. 

The  Association  has  been  and  is  engaged  in  investigating 
the  conduct  of  the  business  entrusted  to  the  Committee  of 
the  Board  of  Supervisors,  known  as  the  Committee  on 
Volunteering.  This  Committee  has  had  the  entire  and  abso- 
lute disbursement  of  several  millions  of  dollars,  and  grave 
charges  of  fraud  and  improper  dealing  have,  for  some  time, 
been  in  circulation  as  "to  the  disposition  of  the  money.  The 
expenses  of  the  committee  have  been  extraordinarily  large, 
and  the  management  of  the  whole  fund  has  been  very  loose 
and  unsatisfactor}'.  In  connection  with  its  duty  of  supply- 
ing volunteers  for  the  army,  this  Volunteer  Committee  as- 
sumed the  task  of  furnishing  substitutes  for  persons  who 
deposited  money  with  it  By  a  law  of  the  State  certain 
moneys  were  deposited  with  this  Committee  to  be  used  in  re- 
funding to  principals  a  portion^of  the  money  expended  in 


14 


procuring  iubstitutes.  After  the  claims  of  the  principal 
had  been  allowed  by  the  State  Paymaster,  and  the  money 
transmitted  to  the  Volunteer  Committee  with  which  to  pay 
them,  the  Committee,  instead  of  paying  such  claims  imme- 
diately, put  the  principal  off  from  time  to  time,  until  at  last 
persons  in  the  confidence  of  the  Committee  bought  up,  at  a 
large  discount,  the  allowed  claims  of  those  principals  who 
became  discouraged  and  who  felt  that  unless  they  took 
what  they  could  get  they  would  be  swindled  out  of  every- 
thing. In  connection  with  this  subject  the  Executive 
Council  directed  the  attorney  of  the  Association  to  send  the 
following  communication  to  Orison  Blunt,  the  Chairman  of 
the  said  Committee : 

Citizens'  Association  of  New-York,  J 
Rooms  813  Broadway,  > 
New-York,  Nov.  9, 1866. ) 

Orison  Blunt,  Esq., 

Chairman  County  Volunteer  Committee. 

Sir,— The  Executive  Council  of  the  Citizens'  Association  has  directed 
me  to  inquire  of  you,  as  Chairman  of  the  County  Volunteer  Committee, 
when  it  will  be  convenient  for  you  to  allow  the  accountant  of  our  Asso. 
ciation  the  opportunity  of  examining  the  books,  records  and  accounts 
of  your  Committee  in  relation  to  the  furnishing  of  volunteers  and  substi- 
tutes for  the  Army  of  the  United  States.  As  you,  no  doubt,  are  aware, 
there  has  been  some  discussion,  and  also  dissatisfaction,  in  the  community 
as  to  the  management  and  disbursement  of  the  funds  appropriated  for 
volunteer  purposes,  it  is  the  desire  and  intention  of  this  Association  to 
investigate  this  matter  from  its  origin,  and  we  trust  that  in  our  labors  we 
will  meet  with  your  co-operation.    I  am,  &c, 

RICHARD  M.  HENRY, 
Att'y  Citizens'  Association  of  New- York. 

To  this  letter  an  answer  was  received,  in  which  Mr.  Blunt 
says  that  it  will  afford  him  great  pleasure  to  have  the  ex- 
amination made  as  proposed,  and  that  he  will  aid  our  ac- 
countant every  way  in  his  power — that  "  his  clerks  are  at 
present  busily  engaged  in  closing  up  and  completing  the 


15 


records,  and  will  finish  soon,"  when  he  will  again  have  the 
pleasure  of  addressing  our  Association. 

Mr.  Blunts  clerks  have  been  "  busily  engaged  in  closing 
up  and  completing  the  records,  and  will  finish  soon"  for  the 
last  eighteen  months,  and  if  allowed  to  continue  will  be 
11  busily  engaged  in  closing  up  and  completing  the  records, 
and  will  finish  soon"  for  the  next  five  years.  The  Associa- 
tion does  not  intend  to  wait  until  Mr.  Bluut's  "busily 
engaged "  clerks  complete  their  task,  but  as  soon  as  con- 
venient to  it,  its  accountant  will  demand  an  inspection 
of  the  books  and  documents  of  the  Committee  on  Volun- 
teering, and  if  an  immediate  inspection  is  refused,  the  Asso- 
ciation will,  in  that  event,  apply  to  the  Supreme  Court  for 
a  mandamus,  compelling  the  Committee  to  allow  the  inspec- 
tion sought. 

The  Association  has  also  been  engaged  in  arranging  the  evi- 
dence in  the  case  of  its  charges  against  Street  Commissioner 
Charles  Gr.  Cornell.  The  Association  has  procured  from  the 
Comptroller  copies  of  many  of  the  vouchers  appertaining 
to  these  charges,  and  has  also  had  made  several  surveys  of 
the  work  in  which  fraud  is  alleged.  In  the  matter  of  work- 
ing Eighth  Avenue  as  a  country  road,  exact  soundings 
have  been  made  by  the  engineers  of  the  Association  of  the 
depth  of  the  hard  pan  below  the  surface  of  the  marsh  upon 
which  the  embankment  is  made,  and  from  the  calculations 
it  appears  that  the  fraud  is  greater  than  we  have  charged. 
The  Executive  Council  anticipated  that  the  investigation  of 
the  charges  of  the  Association  against  Cornell  would  develop 
a  series  of  official  acts  of  the  most  startling  recklessness, 
wanton  waste  of  the  public  funds,  and  of  the  most  gigantic 
frauds  ever  perpetrated  upon  the  Public  Treasury.  The 
resignation  of  Mr.  Cornell,  however,  prevented  the  investi- 
gation from  being  prosecuted  before  the  Commissioner  ap- 
pointed by  Gov.  Fenton — but  Mr.  Cornell  will  not  thm 


16 


escape  the  consequences  of  his  acts — for  the  whole  matter 
will  now  be  taken  before  another  tribunal. 

The  Executive  Council  respectfully  solicits  the  advice  of 
the  Honorary  Council  in  relation  to  the  following :  The 
Common  Council,  in  December,  1865,  authorized  and  directed 
the  Comptroller  to  execute  a  lease  to  the  Sisters  of  Mercy 
of  about  three-quarters  of  a  block  of  ground  between  Fourth 
and  Lexington  Avenues,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Eighty- 
third  street,  for  the  term  of  ninety-nine  years,  at  the  nomi- 
nal rent  of  one  dollar  per  annum.  This  lease  has  been 
executed.  The  Common  Council  also  in  December,  1865, 
authorized  and  directed  the  Comptroller  to  lease  to  the 
Nursery  and  Child's  Hospital  of  the  City  of  New- York,  for 
the  annual  rent  of  one  dollar,  for  so  long  a  time  as  the  same 
should  be  employed  as  a  Home  for  Illegitimate  Children  and 
a  Lying-in-Asylum,  certain  lots  of  ground  with  the  buildings 
thereon,  at  the  south-east  corner  of  Lexington  Avenue  aud 
Fifty-first  street  This  lease  also  has  been  executed.  These 
leases  are  in  direct  violation  of  the  City  Charter,  which 
provides  that  the  city  shall  not  lease  its  property  for  a  longer 
term  than  ten  years,  and  that  all  leases  of  public  property 
shall  be  made  at  public  auction,  and  to  the  highest  bidder. 
These  leases  can  be  set  aside.  They  are  an  illegal  disposition 
of  the  public  property,  and  form  very  dangerous  precedents. 
Considering  the  uses  to  which  the  property  leased  is  put, 
the  Executive  Council  wishes  to  have  the  suggestions  of 
the  Honorary  Council  as  to  the  advisability  of  directing 
suits  to  be  brought,  to  set  the  leases  aside  as  illegal  and 
void. 

The  Association  is  about  taking  steps  to  have  the  proper- 
ty owned  by  the  Corporation  inventoried,  and  will  apply  to 
the  Legislature  at  its  next  session,  to  have  this  property 
sold  and  the  proceeds  applied  towards  extinguishing  the 
debt  of  the  city. 


17 


The  Executive  Council  congratulates  the  Honorary  Coun- 
cil upon  the  decision  of  the  State  to  call  a  Convention  for 
the  alteration  and  revision  of  the  Constitution.  The  Asso- 
ciation has  every  reason  to  believe  that  its  voice  will  have 
great  weight  with  the  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  State, 
and  it  hopes  to  be  able  to  have  the  government  of  our  city 
wholely  remodelled,  and  reduced  to  such  form  as  will  ensure 
economy,  wisdom  and  energy.  Of  one  thing,  however,  the 
Association  feels  assured,  and  that  is,  of  its  power  to  induce 
the  Convention  to  abolish  our  elective  judiciary,  and  to 
return  to  the  old  system  of  appointing  our  judges. 

The  important  matters  to  which  the  Honorary  Council 
were  invited  to  give  their  attention,  are  : 

1.  The  matter  of  our  Wharves  and  Piers. 

2.  The  successful  result  of  the  Gas  Suit. 

3.  The  successful  result  of  the  Mandamus  against  Cornell 

4.  The  investigations  into  the  new  County  Court  House. 

5.  The  matter  of  the  overcharges  of  the  County  Investi- 

gating Committee. 

6.  The  matter  of  the  County  Volunteer  Committee. 

7.  The  matter  of  the  Charges  against  Cornell. 

8.  The  matter  of  the  Corporation  Leases. 

The  Executive  Council  feels  the  that  welfare  of  our  whole 
State  and  country  depends,  in  a  measure,  upon  good  govern- 
ment in  this  city. 

Great  cities  have  always  wielded  a  moral  sovereignty  in 
human  affairs.  Thebes,  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Palmyra,  Rome, 
gave  laws  and  manners  to  ancient  times.  London,  Paris, 
Vienna,  Constantinople,  St  Petersburg,  sway  nations  now, 
and  advance  or  depress  the  standard  of  civilization,  freedom 
and  social  economy.  As  are  its  great  cities,  so  is  Europe, 
so  is  Christendom.  In  like  manner  this  western  hemisphere 
will  be  moulded  and  ruled  by  its  imperial  cities,  its  political 
and  commercial  capitals.  As  Ronie,  in  olden  times,  was  the 
3 


18 


mistress  of  millions  in  remotest  provinces,  so  must  imperial 
New- York  fulfil  a  like  destiny  to  the  teeming  States  and 
temtories  which  commerce,  science  and  other  interests  shall 
attract  towards  her  bosom. 

We  call  Kome  the  Eternal  City.  Yet  the  eye  of  the 
traveler  meets  there  little  besides  decay  and  desolation.  It 
is  a  dead  city,  entombed  in  the  fragments  of  its  ancient 
grandeur.  But  New- York  is  just  bursting  into  giant  life. 
Its  location  is  on  a  point  where  all  the  continents  meet. 
The  Atlantic  washes  its  feet,  the  tropics  pour  their  riches 
into  its  lap,  the  Arctic  brings  its  products,  the  vast  inte- 
rior of  our  own  country  fills  its  warehouses,  while  by  the 
Pacific  Railroad  the  regions  of  China,  Japan  and  the  East 
Indies  are  brought  to  its  doors.  If  commerce  ever  finds  an 
immovable,  magnificent  centre,  it  will  be  here  on  this  small 
island  of  Manhattan. 

This  Empire  City,  thus  grandly  enthroned  on  the  point 
where  all  the  great  interests  of  the  world  meet,  where  all 
wants  may  be  supplied,  all  exchanges  made,  this  great  Me- 
tropol  s,  with  its  magnificent  capabilities  and  exalted  destiny, 
ought,  in  all  reason,  to  enjoy  the  wisest  and  best  government 
that  man  can  bestow.  Its  rulers  should  be  capable  of  com- 
prehending its  vast  power  for  good,  for  the  promotion  of 
social  security  and  happiness,  and  for  the  highest  achieve- 
ments of  the  most  advanced  civilization ;  and  they  should 
be  resolved  that  the  government  of  this  city  shall  be  as  dis. 
tinguished  for  its  wisdom,  its  purity  and  uprightness,  its  sa- 
gacious, far-seeing  statesmanship,  as  is  the  city  for  its  unparal- 
lelled  location  and  other  physical  advantages.  There  are 
men  in  this  city,  who  could  in  a  few  years  make  this  me- 
tropolis the  first  city  in  the  world  in  all  that  pertains  to  the 
interests  of  commerce,  trade,  general  industry  and  enterprise, 
and  in  everything  conuected  with  life,  health,  order,  comfort 
and  happinesa  of  the  people.    They  would  concentrate  and 


19 


embody  in  our  municipal  administration,  the  highest  result* 
of  experience,  science  and  art,  and  give  the  people  the  full 
benefit  of  the  wisest  and  best  local  rule,  conducted  on  prin- 
ciples of  honesty,  justice  and  enlightened  philanthropy. 

How,  and  by  whom,  is  this  great  city  governed  ?  It  is 
not  pleasant  to  speak  evil  of  persons  holding  official  positions 
if  we  can  avoid  it.  But  if  we  speak  at  all,  and  speak  truth- 
fully, we  must  say  that  no  community  of  which  history  gives 
any  account,  ever  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  under  the  con- 
trol of  men  so  utterly  destitute  of  every  right  principle,  so 
grossly  incompetent,  and  so  thoroughly  selfish,  corrupt  and 
wicked  as  are  most  of  the  rulers  of  this  city. 

The  mode  of  government  devised  by  these  men  seems  to 
have  been  expressly  intended  for  the  largest  number  of 
offices,  and  the  most  lavish  use  of  money.  They  have  a 
double  government,  each  with  its  long  list  of  officials  and 
salaries,  one  government  being  for  the  city,  the  other  for  the 
county,  covering  the  same  ground  exactly.  They  divided 
these  governments  into  sixteen  departments,  and  in  five  of 
these  departments  are  eighteen  distinct  bureaus,  each  with  a 
chief  with  large  salary,  and  each  having  a  corps  of  well-paid 
clerks,  &c.  And  then,  to  crown  the  system,  all  the  depart- 
ments are  independent  and  without  responsibility  to  any 
central,  superior  authority. 

Enormous  as  have  been  the  revenues  of  the  city,  the  taxes 
having  risen  in  thirty  years  from  $2.50  per  head  to  $20  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child,  those  who  misrule  us  have 
contrived  to  spend  twenty  millions  a  }rear  without  anything 
to  show  for  it  in  public  improvements.  They  spent  largely 
for  cleaning  streets,  and  gave  us  the  filthiest  streets  in  the 
world.  They  spent,  nominally  for  Health  purposes,  but  gave 
us  a  Sanitary  Police  whose  business  was  rum-selling,  and  the 
whole  system  was  a  disgrace  to  civilization.  And  thus 
fruitless  of  public  benefits  have  been  all  their  immense  ex- 


20 

penditures.  The  money  has  gone  into  private  pockets.  In- 
stead of  noble  river  fronts  lined  with  magnificent  wharves, 
piers  and  warehouses  worthy  of  the  greatest  commercial  city 
on  the  continent,  we  find  miles  of  dilapidated  wharves,  filthy 
docks,  tumble-down  piers,  and  other  like  evidences  of  im- 
providence, incompetence,  neglect  and  fraud. 

The  more  the  greed  for  corrupt  gain  has  been  indulged, 
the  more  insatiable  and  daring  it  has  become,  till  now,  the 
conviction  is  fixed  in  the  public  mind  that  most  of  our  city 
officials  are  nothing  less,  nothing  better,  than  a  band  of  con- 
spirators, leagued  together  for  the  plundering  of  the  people 
to  the  utmost  extent  to  which  their  official  positions  will  en- 
able them  to  carry  it. 

If  any  should  take  courage  from  the  public  disgust  and 
indignation  felt  for  our  officials,  to  hope  for  a  speedy  change 
of  rulers  through  the  ballot  box,  we  must  check  that  hope 
by  reminding  them  that  the  adroit  and  experienced  officials 
have  amply  provided  against  the  possibility  of  an  election 
that  shall  oust  them  and  elevate  honest  men.  Let  anj  one 
visit  the  election  districts  on  charter  election  day,  and  he 
will  soon  see  that  our  officials  are  not  chosen  by  the  merchants 
and  tradesmen,  not  by  honest  mechanics  or  the  sober  and 
industrious  laborers  whose  toils  bring  in  their  daily  bread, 
but  he  will  find  every  district  patrolled,  every  poll  watched, 
every  stranger  and  decent-looking  man  scrutinized  by  the 
friends  of  the  "Ring,"  who  feel  that  honest  people  have  no 
right  which  they  are  bound  to  respect. 

Against  all  possibility  of  reform  through  the  ballot,  our 
rulers  have  provided  a  standing  army  of  voters,  who  are 
bound  to  carry  them  to  victory  In  every  contest  The  ten 
thousand  rum-sellers,  with  all  the  customers  they  can  in- 
fluence by  free  drams  and  otherwise,  the  thousands  of  sala- 
ried officers  and  hangers-on  of  the  various  departments, 
together  with  .the  hordes  of  employes  on  roads,  streets  and 


21 

public  works  and  buildiDgs,  are  always  at  command.  The 
expenditure  of  twenty  millions  a  year  can  easily  be  made 
to  control  a  vast  number  of  votes,  and  in  these  and  various 
other  ways,  which  we  need  not  specify,  the  officials  now  in 
power  can  keep  themselves  there  in  spite  of  any  efforts  the 
better  classes  of  citizens  may  make. 

In  ordinary  circumstances  the  ballot  is  the  security  and 
the  glory  of  a  people.  A  fair  expression  of  enlightened, 
virtuous  public  opinion  is  the  most  reliable  wisdom  and 
safety.  But  our  circumstances  are  most  extraordinary. 
Our  city  is  the  common  sewer  for  the  dregs  of  Europe. 
The  rascality  of  the  old  world  flows  into  it,  and  all  that  is 
vile  and  wicked,  whether  imported  or  home-bred,  is  pan- 
dered  to  by  our  officials  and  becomes  subservient  to  them. 
Not  only  can  our  officials  continue  their  power,  not  only 
can  they  prevent  all  reform  and  all  protection  to  property 
and  person  in  the  city  by,the  ballot-box,  but  they  are  drill- 
ing and  marching  to  the  polls  masses  of  ignorance  and 
wickedness  which  threaten  to  overwhelm  the  whole  State, 
and  neutralize  the  vote  of  the  entire  body  of  free,  intelli- 
gent citizens  in  the  counties  and  rural  districts.  And 
though  the  Rings  of  the  city  complain  of  Albany  interfer- 
ence with  our  local  affairs,  they  are  doing  their  best  to  de- 
prive the  whole  State  of  its  rights. 

Much  as  the  friends  of  reform  may  desire  the  redemption 
of  the  city  by  its  own  citizens  from  the  terrible  wrongs  it 
endures,  they  are  compelled  to  abandon  all  hope  in  that  di- 
rection at  present.  The  Citizens'  Association,  after  patient 
and  earnest  investigation  and  effort,  has  been  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  only  practicable  and  safe  course  is  in  su- 
perseding the  clumsy,  numerous,  corrupt  and  costly  depart- 
ments of  our  city  government  by  a  few  thoroughly  able  and 
honest  boards,  composed  of  our  wisest  and  test  citizens, 
and  authorized  by  the  State  Legislature.    There  is  no  other 


23 


power  that  can  relieve  us  in  our  present  exigency,  and  there 
is  no  other  way  in  which  we  can  so  soon  and  bo  surely  get 
rid  of  the  oligarchy  of  Rings  and  restore  to  our  own  citizens 
the  right  of  managing  their  local  affairs. 

The  Boards  already  established  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Association,  and  which,  without  violence  or  parade,  have 
quietly  displaced  old  follies  and  abuses,  and  introduced  real 
and  valuable  services  at  a  vast  reduction  of  expense,  may 
be  regarded  as  samples  of  the  character  and  bearing  of  the 
whole  series  of  boards  deemed  necessary  for  the  good  gov- 
ernment of  this  city,  and  which,  when  complete,  will  present 
a  municipal  administration  unrivalled  in  either  hemisphere. 
Excluding  political  parties  and  cliques  from  the  control  of 
interests  in  which  all  parties  and  classes  are  vitally  con- 
cerned, frowning  down  office-seekers  and  their  corrupt 
devices  to  gain  place  and  profit,  and  selecting  from  our 
citizens  men  of  character,  intelligence  and  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  branches  of  public  duty  to  which  they  may  be 
assigned,  the  result  must  be  a  great  simplification  of  civic 
rule  compared  with  the  cumbrous,  multiform,  ignorant  and 
corrupt  system  now  in  vogue.  Instead  of  forty  or  more 
irresponsible,  incompetent  and  often  clashing  departments 
and  bureaus,  each  with  its  troop  of  salaried  officials  and  its 
regiment  of  hangers-on  living  on  the  crumbs  of  patronage, 
some  seven  Boards  or  Commissions,  each  with  its  well-defined 
work,  and  with  its  special  qualifications  for  that  work,  and 
each  held  to  a  rigid  accountability  to  the  people,  will  meet 
all  the  requirements  of  the  public  service  on  a  scale  of 
excellence,  efficiency  and  wise  economy  which  will  secure 
to  the  city  all  the  advantages  and  prosperity  which  indivi- 
dual enterprise  and  sagacity  usually  realize  on  the  same 
principles. 

The  plan  of  the  Citizens'  Association  proposes,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  measures  already  inaugurated,  a  Board  of  Public 


23 

Works,  to  have  charge  of  all  public  buildings,  &c.  Second, 
a  Board  of  Estimate  and  Revision,  without  whose  sanction 
no  appropriation  of  the  public  money  or  sale  or  lease  of  the 
public  property  can  be  valid.  Third,  A  Board  of  Wharves 
and  Piers.  Fourth,  the  final  and  crowning  board  is  to  be 
the  Board  of  Metropolitan  Trustees,  which  will  supersede  the 
Common  Council,  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  and  all  other 
departments  of  the  local  government  not  provided  for  in  the 
other  Boards.  This  Board  will  be  under  the  control  and 
direction  of  seven  Metropolitan  Trustees,  three  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate,  and  four  to  be  elected  at  large  by 
the  people,  one  of  whom  shall  act  as  President  of  the  Board 
and  be  the  Mayor  of  the  city.  This  will  still  leave  the 
ballot-box  in  use,  and  it  is  hoped  at  least  one  good  and 
reliable  citizen  out  of  the  four  can  be  elected,  though,  we 
confess,  past  experience  does  not  warrant  hopes  of  a  very 
sanguine  order. 

Our  local  government  will  then  be  conducted  by  the  fol- 
lowing Boards :  1st,  The  Metropolitan  Board  of  Trustees  ; 
2d,  The  Board  of  Public  Works ;  3d,  The  Board  of  Health ; 
4th,  Board  of  Revision  and  Estimate ;  5th,  Board  of  Fire 
Commissioners;  6th,  Metropolitan  Police,  and  7th,  A 
Board  of  Wharves  and  Piers.  Instead  of  sixteen  depart- 
ments and  forty-two  bureaus,  as  formerly,  and  at  a  merely 
nominal  expense  when  all  the  legitimate  sources  of  revenue 
are  developed,  honestly  collected  and  used  in  defraying  our 
necessary  liabilities,  we  shall  have  a  compact,  congruous 
and  efficient  government,  simple  in  its  arrangement,  and 
adequate  to  all  the  beneficent  purposes  it  is  intended  to 
subserve. 

Among  those  who  oppose  the  reforms  now  in  progress, 
and  insist  on  continuing  the  cumbrous  system  under  which 
the  great  abuses  in  the  City  Government  have  been  main- 


24 


tained,  much  complaint  has  been  made  of  interference  with 
chartered  rights.  They  have  assumed  without  foundation 
that  the  method  of  governing  the  city  is  fixed  by  ancient 
charters,  and  that  the  city,  in  respect  of  its  government,  is 
mainly  independent  of  the  State.  The  truth  is  quite  the 
contrary.  While  the  city  is  vested  with  certain  chartered 
rights  over  its  own  property,  which  of  course  cannot  be  in- 
terferred  with,  the  proper  business  of  government  within 
the  city  belongs  to  the  general  policy  and  administration  of 
the  State  of  which  the  city  forms  a  part 

The  State  of  New-York  never  allows  any  portion  of  its 
territory,  be  it  town,  county,  village  or  city,  a  local  inde- 
pendence, but  subjects  all  parts  of  its  domain  to  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  State  itself.  When  a  charter  is  given  to  a 
village  for  the  convenience  of  its  inhabitants,  the  better  pre- 
servation of  order,  the  protection  of  private  right  and  the 
suppression  of  local  evils,  the  State  confers  upon  such  village 
certain  special  powers,  which  may  be  recalled  by  the  Legis- 
lature at  will,  and  differ  widely  from  irrevocable  grants  of 
property.  In  the  exercise  of  such  powers,  the  village  of- 
ficials, in  effect,  are  merely  deputed  to  perform  a  portion  of 
the  functions  of  the  State  government  at  that  particular 
place.  So,  on;  a  larger  scale,  the  City  of  New-York,  from 
time  to  time,  has  received  authority  from  the  State  for  the 
purposes  of  local  government,  but  always  subject  to  the 
superior  power.  The  great  amount  of  property,  and  the 
large  population  of  this  city,  render  it  expedient,  and  even 
necessary,  that  the  provisions  for  the  local  government  here 
should  be  ample  and  comprehensive  ;  but  the  fundamental 
principle  of  the  subordination  of  the  local  government  of 
a  district  to  the  general  government  of  the  whole  State,  is 
the  same  here  as  in  the  case  of  any  mere  village.  This 
controlling  power  of  the  State,  over  the  government  of  the 
City  of  New- York,  has  been  exercised  at  all  times,  and 


25 


material  changes  in  the  government  of  this  city  often  have 
been  made.  Thus,  in  the  legislative  department  of  the 
city,  a  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  has  been  abolished  ; 
two  differently  constituted  Boards  of  Councilmen  have  been 
established  in  succession  ;  the  function  of  Supervisors  has 
been  taken  from  the  Aldermen  and  given  to  a  distinct 
Board  of  Supervisors;  several  independent  departments 
have  been  instituted  ;  particular  functions  have  been  taken 
from  the  Common  Council  and  conferred  upon  new  boards 
of  officers;  and  innumerable  lesser  changes  of  a  distinct 
character  have  been  made  by  Acts  of  the  State  Legislature. 

In  respect  of  the  power  of  taxation  for  local  purposes, 
this  city  has  been  kept  for  many  years  strictly  and  constantly 
under  the  authority  of  the  State  Legislature,  much  more  so 
than  other  cities  of  the  State.  This  city  has  no  chartered 
authority  to  raise  the  moneys  annually  required  for  its  ad- 
ministration, nor  to  contract  loans  nor  to  incur  debts;  but 
is  required  annually  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  the  pas- 
sage of  particular  Acts  for  those  purposes.  While  smaller 
cities,  for  the  most  part,  have  a  standing  authority  in  their 
charters,  to  raise  money  by  tax  or  loan  sufficient  to  cover 
their  necessary  expenses,  yet  the  Common  Council  of  this 
city  does  not  possess  such  authority. 

In  no  other  city  do  the  people  of  the  State  have  so  large 
an  interest  as  in  this.  Here  is  the  great  seaport  of  the  State, 
the  business  centre  of  its  wealth  and  commerce,  the  place  of 
its  payments  and  settlements,  the  common  point  where  its 
people  for  intellectual  moral  and  social  purposes  constantly 
meet,  and  where  all  therefore  have  a  peculiar  common  in- 
terest. Every  inhabitant  of  this  State  is  interested  in  the 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  this  metropolis  ;  and  the  Legislature 
being  the  equal  representatives  of  all  the  people,  and 
charged  by  the  Constitution  with  the  whole  legislative 
power  of  the  State,  are  the  proper  guardians  and  protectors 
4 


26 


of  those  common  interests  at  this  point.  The  Legislature, 
therefore,  in  interposing  to  correct  abuses  in  our  local 
government,  and  to  make  such  changes  in  its  organization 
as  shall  protect  the  people  and  property  of  the  City  of  New- 
York  from  misrule  and  waste,  lighten  the  burthen  of  taxa- 
tion, improve  the  public  health,  increase  the  facilities  for 
commerce,  improve  the  administration  of  public  education 
and  repress  crime,  not  only  guards  the  interests  of  this  city, 
but  most  eminently  serves  the  interests  of  the  great  State 
it  represents. 

The  idea  of  local  self-government  in  the  City  of  New- 
York,  recently  promulgated  in  some  quarters,  has  no  foun- 
dation in  our  past  history,  and  is  at  war  with  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  State  sovereignty  ;  and  this  Association 
constantly  looks  to  that  honorable  body,  in  which  the  Con- 
stitution has  vested  the  legislative  power  of  this  State,  for 
the  enactment  of  such  laws  for  the  government  of  the  City 
of  New- York  as  the  interests  of  the  wThole  State  (the  city 
included)  shall,  in  its  judgment,  require.  The  destiny  of 
the  great  city  of  the  American  continent  is  too  high,  and 
the  interest  of  our  whole  country  in  its  prosperity  is  too 
great,  to  be  placed  at  the  risk  of  petty  combinations  in  local 
parties  and  of  selfish  and  speculative  arrangements  of  ward 
politicians,  and  require  the  intelligent  attention  of  the  good 
and  wrise  men  of  the  whole  State. 

On  the  motion  of  William  Wood,  Esq.,  the  Eeport  was 
sent  back  to  the  Executive  Council,  with  the  recommenda- 
tion that  it  be  printed  for  distribution. 

RICHARD  M.  HENRY, 

Secretary  Honorary  Council  Citizens  Association. 

On  December  6,  1866,  the  Hon.  Geo.  G.  Barnard,  presid- 
ing Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  delivered  the  following 
charge  to  the  Grand  Jury : 


27 


u  At  every  term  of  the  Court,  gentlemen,  at  which  a  Grand  Jury  is 
summoned,  it  is  required  by  the  statute  that  you  should  be  charged  on 
the  duties  you  have  to  perform,  and  the  manner  of  performing  them. 
Most  of  you,  if  not  all,  have  probably  served  on  the  Grand  Jury  before, 
and  if  you  have  not  you  have  all  read  the  charges  which  have  been  deli- 
vered by  different  Judges  to  different  Grand  Juries.  It  is,  therefore, 
hardly  necessary  for  me  to  refer  at  any  length  to  the  nature  and  charac- 
ter of  those  duties.  There  are,  however,  certain  statutes  which  I  am 
required  by  law  to  call  your  attention  to,  and  these  are  the  statutes 
against  bribery  at  elections,  the  statutes  against  usury,  the  statutes 
against  lotteries,  the  statutes  agaimt  selling  rum,  the  statutes  against 
soliciting  passengers  illegally,  and  the  statutes  against  disclosing  the  fact 
that  an  indictment  has  been  found  against  any  person  for  larceny  who  is 
not  actually  in  custody. 

"  I  had  intended,  gentlemen,  to  charge  you — indeed,  I  had  carefully  pre- 
pared, with  the  intention  of  delivering  to  you  a  charge — in  regard  to  the 
offences  which  are  constantly  being  committed  in  the  City  of  New-York 
by  public  officers  ;  but,  on  reflection,  I  have  concluded  to  suppress  it, 
and  for  tbi3  reason  :  No  one  single  man  can,  unaided  and  alone,  fight 
against  the  corruptions  of  New-York  City.  I  have  determined  here- 
after, when  I  have  information  or  seek  to  accomplish  anything  in  opposi- 
tion to  this  bad  influence,  to  use  the  Citizens'  Association — an  associa- 
tion in  New-York  City  composed  of  gentlemen  of  wealth,  of  intellect, 
and  of  sterling  integrity.  I  have  determined  to  use  them  as  an  instru- 
ment for  the  purpose  of  reforming  what  I  consider  the  most  glaring 
•abuses  in  New- York  City.  So  far  as  my' Court  is  concerned,  so  far  as  I 
have  the  power,  by  injunction,  mandamus  or  otherwise,  to  stop  these 
abuses,  I  intend  to  do  it ;  but,  as  one  single,  unaided  man,  I  shall  look  to 
the  Citizens'  Association  for  aid  and  assistance.  The  law  provides  that 
not  more  than  twenty-three  or  less  than  sixteen  shall  be  sworn  as  a  Grand 
Jury,  and  it  takes  twelve  of  that  number  to  find  a  bill,  and  the  same  number 
to  re-consider  a  bill,  when  once  found,  before  it  is  presented  to  the  Court, 
Your  foreman  has  the  power  to  excuse  any  of  yqp,  provided  he  has  not 
less  than  twelve  in  the  room  at  all  times.  No  person  is  allowed  to  appear 
in  your  room  when  a  vote  i3  being  given,  or  an  opinion  expressed.  The 
District  Attorney  will  be  your  legal  adviser,  and  he  will  be  permitted  to 
come  before  you  at  all  times  except  on  these  two  occasions.  He  will 
send  for  witnesses  for  you,  and  examine  such  witnesses  as  appear  before 
you,  if  you  desire  it,  and  he  will  at  all  times  hold  himself  in  readiness  for 


\ 


28 

the  purpose  of  giving  you  advice.  My  experience  as  a  Judge  on  the 
bench,  running  back  now  some  ten  years,  emboldens  me  to  say  to  you 
that  you  should  keep  secret  your  deliberations  in  the  Grand  Jury  room. 
Detailing  what  takes  place  there  may  create  bickerings  and  animosities, 
and  can  make  no  friendships,  and  therefore  it  should  be  sacred  and  secret. 
With  these  few  remarks,  gentlemen,  you  will  proceed  to  the  discharge  of 
your  duties." 


